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Topic: Switching from deeps to all mediums. (Read 1619 times)

I just started keeping bees in fall of 2011, and went with the 2 deep brood boxes with mediums on top. I later found MB's website, and am in process of switching to only 8 frame mediums. (I'm 50 years young and in for the long haul). I split my hives earlier this year so each colony is down to one deep on the bottom, so when the bees move up this winter, I can get it out, and start cutting it down to size. I doubt there is a simple answer, but when can I expect the bees to have used up these stores, so I can remove the box without causing harm? And...will I need to immediately replace with another 8 frame medium? I'm wrongfully assuming the stores will be used up in Jan or Feb, and removing the deep on one of those oddball warm days we usually get in those months. I live in North Central Pa. Thanks for your patience.

Hello Sam, I'm new to beekeeping also. I would like to add my two cents, and I mean two cents. If i'm following you correctly, here is what I would do. I would leave the the deep where it is till spring. Add a medium. Your right, the bees will move up. In the spring I would remove the deep making sure the queen is not in there. Place the deep on its side in front of the hive. Any bees there will go back into the hive.

I second Joe D’s advice; wait till spring to remove the deep. In the spring the bees have a good chance of recovery if something goes amiss in the deep removal. If something goes amiss in the winter, the colony is lost.

The bees like deeps! If your hive configuration is a deep + 1 medium the odds are the bees will be brood up the deep frames in the spring and maybe some of those mediums too :) If that is the case, you don't really want to loose all the brood in those deeps. You're best bet then is probably to get the queen into a medium above the deep and stick an excluder between the deep and medium. After the brood in the deep has hatched out, then remove the deep. Nothing ever goes exactly as planned with bees.

I would say wait until spring build up to do anything. Then find the queen and move her to the mediums. Then either simply remove the deep outright, or put in an excluder to keep her out of the deep until any brood emerges and then remove the deep. If you are using top entrances it will be more complicated because you will not want to block drones so you would put the excluded deep at the bottom or switch to two entrances top and bottom for a short time to give the drones a way out.

Come spring say late March in your country, move the deep frames into two medium boxes. Replace any frames without brood with medium frames up and down hopefully with drawn comb. If you don't have the drawn comb, remove a deep frame with no brood and slide everything to the outside one position and draw those up and down foundation frames between capped drawn brood and you will get wonderful drawn comb. Just keep repeating this process until you have pulled all the deep frames.